Left Me Behind
by Midnyght Saber
Summary: Song-shot to Breaking Benjamin's "Anthem of the Angels". The idea wouldn't leave me alone. AU, non-canon post X8 storyline.


**Disclaimer:** _Mega Man_ and all related characters and information are the property of Capcom Co., Ltd., Akira Kitamura and Keiji Inafune. "Anthem of the Angels" is the property of Breaking Benjamin and Hollywood Records, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.

* * *

Zero smirked as his saber cut through the thin metal of another Maverick drone, knowing from the distant sounds that X had found wherever it was that Sigma had been hiding all this time, and from the sounds, it wasn't going very well for the infected ex-Commander.

Moving through the white halls of the latest lair, Zero blade danced relentlessly through the collected masses that vainly attempted to save their master, their last sight a flash of green held by a whirlwind of red and white. More and more smoking husks fell to the floor, Zero only moderately sorry for their loss. Mavericks were simply insane puppets of a master controller, and that guiding force was about to be destroyed.

X had sworn that this time would be the last.

**White walls surround us**

**No light will touch your face again**

As silence descended around him, save for the hum of the lights that lined the ceiling of the hallway, Zero closed his eyes, not only sensing for any other enemies, but letting himself calm down. The thought of X's proclamation of victory had come the night before, the two tangled in the sheets of X's large bed, both thoroughly satisfied, X nuzzled into the fitting embrace of his partner.

His green eyes had looked so happy that morning, and Zero could practically feel the confidence issuing off of the lower-ranked Hunter, letting the feeling wash over him as well. Tightening his grip on his saber, he strode forward into the hallway, ears and eyes alert for the presence of any other than himself. Another Maverick drone attacked at a junction, and was properly dispatched, the smoking head clattering down back the way Zero had come, its body lying in a heap at his feet, and he kicked it. The sparking remains jittered once against the floor before they lay still.

**Rain taps the window**

**As we sleep among the dead**

Again and again, Sigma had been the source of so much havoc and the deaths of countless millions, both human and Reploid alike, and it often boggled Zero's processors at how well-equipped the bastard was at coming back. With the resurgence of his memories a while back, he'd been shocked to discover that it was he who had been the original carrier of the Virus. While it had left him a wreck for weeks, X had been able to work him from his depression, slowly comforting him with the fact that, despite having been the carrier, he'd had become so much more when the Virus had transferred, and his efforts with the Maverick Hunters had done so much.

"Think about it, Z," X had said, kissing his nose softly. "If the Virus hadn't transferred…if you'd been the one to start this…would anyone, Sigma included, have been able to stop the carnage? You've saved more lives than we'll ever be able to realize because of your work. Despite your past, it's what you make of the present that earns your future."

**Days go on forever**

**But I have not left your side**

The memories had flooded back over the past few days, of friends gained and lost, of battles that had left X scarred and himself in pieces. The Repliforce war…the crash of the Eurasia colony…the Nightmare incident…the battle between the Maverick Hunters and the Red Alert Sydicate…the Jakob Project…through all of that, they had fought and suffered and died. Yet, somehow, despite the cloud of darkness that always seemed to follow them around, Zero and X had found comfort in each other's strength.

Against everything that they had fought, through all the destruction that had been brought upon the world…they had stood, constant, against it, and they had won.

Only once more would they be required to lift their weapons.

This was to be the end.

X had promised.

**We can chase the dark together**

**If you go**

**Then so will I**

An explosion rocked the facility, and Zero tucked his head inward, rolling over his arms as the seismic wave tossed him from his feet. Rising shakily on all fours, he could smell the acidic tang of burning components and the sick stench of metal turning to slag, and he clipped his deactivated saber into the charge pack on his back.

He'd done so just in time, it seemed, because another series of smaller explosions rocked the building, and as he had been on one of the few sections that was on support struts over the water, he felt the floor slowly shift under his feet.

"Well, shit," he swore, engaging his boosters as he fought to work to the door in the distance, slowly tearing away from the building. As the struts gave way, the floor and ceiling soon became as much a wall to Zero, and he started boost-jumping between them as the bulbs lining the ceiling began to flicker and spark.

Getting to the edge of the wreckage as it began its final descent into the water below, Zero fired off his boosters, a second fire in midair clearing the last few meters, and he punched the door viciously, catching himself on the edge of the floor before boosting the last bit up, stepping cautiously on the floor before continuing in the direction of the main explosion.

**There is nothing left of you**

**I can see it in your eyes**

The Mavericks awaiting him in this section of the building were much faster than the drones he'd dealt with, and he silently hoped that X hadn't had to deal with all of these. Sigma may have been nothing but a scrap of a program by this point, but going up against this many – X would have drained a couple of tanks by this point. Diving low and dragging his blade through a pair of gunner Mavericks, Zero silently wondered if their third Hunter had been doing okay. Axl was still a rookie in most terms, and a bit of a hotshot at that.

Boosting over a sudden stream of flame, Zero spun through the air, the whirling hum of his saber slicing like a warm knife through hot butter, and another four Mavericks collapsed, their central processors smoking.

**Sing the anthem of the angels**

**And say the last goodbye**

A bullet whizzed past his head as he rocketed past the next intersection of halls, his olfactory sensors leading him towards where X was most likely roasting Sigma's memory chip over an open pit of lava, and he cried out as the projectile tore through his long mane of hair. While strong enough to have not been ripped apart by the bullet, the sensors built into the hair still fired off at the sensation, flooding his mind with pain.

"Zero?" a voice called. "Zero, man, I'm sorry!" Axl cried. "I didn't mean it!"

"I know," Zero said, sheathing his saber once more, his hands running over his blonde tail and attempting to soothe out the pain. "Have you seen or heard from X?"

"Not yet," the Reploid said, holstering his pistols. "With this place going up in smoke, I was thinking Sigma might'a engaged some sort of self-destruct."

"Knowing X," Zero said, "he managed to blow Sigma to the recycle bin right before this place blew. I just hope he's okay."

**Cold light above us**

**Hope fills the heart**

**And fades away**

The two Hunters moved through the building quickly, Axl's skilled shots and quick-thinking metamorphoses taking down whatever Zero's blade couldn't cut through, and it wasn't long before they'd reached the end of the facility…or at least, the end of this level. Kicking the door to the lift, Zero wasn't surprised when it buckled under the hit, and he and Axl both craned their legs back, simultaneously snapping their limbs out, and the doors blew out against the back of the shaft, clattering loudly towards the sub-levels of the building.

"After you," Axl said, peering cautiously down the shaft.

Kicking off the floor, Zero caught himself against the far wall of the elevator shaft, letting the minor magnetic charge of his boots slow his descent so that he was coasting down the wall. Axl wasn't far behind, his boots about level with Zero's head as they continued their descent.

**Skin white as winter**

**As the sky returns to grey**

As they finally hit the lowest level of the shaft, the crumpled doors rocking gently at their landing, Zero reared back and kicked the doors, watching with satisfaction as they skittered along the floor for a moment before falling over. The rancid stink of molten metals mixed with the tang of singed and burning computer components, making Axl near to double over.

"Turn down your olfactory sensitivity. This place will overload your sensory drive otherwise."

Axl did so, slowly gaining his feet again. "I need to remember that for future reference."

Zero smirked over his shoulder. "Let's hope there isn't a future that needs that reference."

**Days go on forever**

**But I have not left your side**

"So, where would X be in all of this?" Axl asked, his eyes showing evident worry.

"Knowing Sigma, this isn't where they fought. He prefers places where he feels he has the superior ground, usually in areas that are small in comparison to the rest of the building. With this…" Zero said, his eyes looking over the rows of destroyed computer terminals, fires still flaring further down a side path. "I'd hazard a guess that there's a cave or something of sort a few more levels down."

"It'll be hard to get to?"

Zero shrugged, heading towards a doorway marked with a thick frame and a single downward-facing red arrow. "Only if you don't know the signs to follow."

**We can chase the dark together**

**If you go**

**Then so will I**

Moving through the passageways, careful to avoid the sparking panels that had been shaken from their places on the walls, Axl and Zero moved as one unit, back to back, saber and guns raised as they cranked up their audio receptors, trying desperately to discern if any of the sounds grating around them.

"Hey, Zero," Axl said, looking down a side passage.

Zero nodded, and the gunner shot down the hallway, coasting down the wall as he found another drop shaft.

**There is nothing left of you**

**I can see it in your eyes**

As the young Reploid hit the bottom, his eyes wandering the room, he felt his vocal processor shut down for a moment. The sight before him was not one that he ever expected to see.

The only thing that made it bearable was the sight of Sigma's corpse missing the top of its head, the core drive a puddle of quickly-cooling slag under the empty eyes.

**Sing the anthem of the angels**

**And say the last goodbye**

Axl fell to his knees, his voice suddenly keening to the heavens.

Zero stopped where he stood at the sound, and he felt all his systems run cold.

Bolting back towards where Axl had disappeared, Zero didn't even bother to wall-slide down the shaft, coming down in an undignified heap next to the rookie Hunter, and as he pushed himself to his feet, he forced his eyes up, fearing the sight that met his eyes long before the cold sting of reality took him.

Iris' loss had been bad enough for simple unrequited love.

This…

This was so much worse.

**I keep holding on to you**

**But I can't bring you back to life**

Stumbling forward on legs that didn't want to work, Zero wasn't even aware that he'd let loose a long, low moan of pain, the sound registering as foreign to his ears as he collapsed near a shattered blue form. Empty black pupils, dilated out to the edges of his eyes, stared back at Zero from the emotionless face, and the Hunter saw nothing left of X in the wasted shell lying before him.

Tears bit at his eyes as he leaned forward, resting his head against the cracked remnants of the Hunter's elongated red crystal. Leaning closer still, his breath hitching in his throat, he pressed a soft, desperate kiss to X's lips, the cold, unforgiving flesh offering no response, no return of emotions. A single tear fell from Zero's eyes to the unmoving body beneath, rolling off the flesh and dripping, lost, to the floor below.

The moan had stopped as he'd fallen next to his friend, but now, as he gently worked his arms beneath the empty husk, scared that too much motion would turn the body to ashes, and he pulled X's body to his as he sat up, the limbs offering no comforting embrace as the head lolled back, obsidian dead pools turned to the unseen sky.

And Zero screamed then, every ounce of raw, violent, absolute pain reverberating through the room, lost in the single syllable of his lover's name, the sound cut short only as Zero felt his vocal processor shatter in his throat.

**Sing the anthem of the angels**

**Then say the last goodbye**

Burying his face against the cold shoulder, Zero's body shook with sobs he could no longer voice, the chip sparking against his throat, and he violently ripped open the panel over his neck, tossing the scrapped processor across the floor, the piece of metal clinking mournfully against Axl's foot.

The young Hunter leaned down, taking the broken piece of his more-broken friend, the tears spilling from his eyes as well as he slowly approached the grieving Reploid. Falling once more to his knees, Axl let his hand hover over X's helmet for only a moment before he disengaged the locks, having to manually force it the last bit of the way. Pulling the ruined armor away, Axl knew immediately that there was no bringing X back, the same horrid mass beneath Sigma's head pooled and hardened within X's helmet.

Axl cried out in disgust as he dropped the helmet, his own cries giving voice where Zero no longer could.

**You're dead alive**

His lips shuddering as the tears continued to fall, Zero let his hand wander through the messy brown locks, his face screwing into a mask of agony as probing fingers found the melted hole in the back of his head, the edges still hot against his fingers, and he reeled back, desperately grabbing for the helmet Axl had dropped. Hands could not move fast enough to get the broken gear back in place.

**You're dead alive**

Countless hours were lost in the dark cavern beneath Sigma's final base, two shattered Hunters mourning the loss of their savior, the one to whom both owed their very lives.

Shakily getting to his feet, his servos whining against the motion, Zero staggered to his feet, X's limp form dangling from his arms as Axl guided him towards the drop shaft. As Zero turned his head upward, the look on his face was enough to explain to Axl that he didn't know how to get X's body out of the stone prison they were in.

**You're dead alive**

Placing his arms under Zero's, Axl, leaned just a little bit back, engaging his boosters on low thrust. Zero understood the maneuver, doing the same with his boosters, using the matched thrust to repel both off and up the walls of the drop shaft. Slowly, the pair managed to get back up the two levels, and Axl walked a bit ahead of Zero, calling in for an air transport. When Alia asked him what was so bad that they couldn't just teleport the trio back, Axl had clammed up, and Alia had taken it to mean that one of them had taken some bad damage.

To be honest, she had thought it was Zero, noting the silence from the senior Maverick Hunters.

**You're dead alive**

The crawl up the main elevator shaft took a lot longer than Axl would have liked, especially when Alia started panicking, the messages coming in more frequently and with a more worried tone, and Axl eventually shut down his transmission beacon, sending off a final message that they'd be out when they got out.

The sound of metal impacting on metal reached Axl's ears, and he spun around, Zero a crumpled bundle on the floor, X still within his arms, and Axl knew that the Hunter had collapsed into silent tears again.

**There is nothing left of you**

**I can see it in your eyes**

Quietly, Axl bent down in front of Zero, offering his open arms. Zero looked up, his body hitching as the silent cries continued, and he shook his head. _I can't_, he mouthed. _I can't let him go._

"I'm not saying you have to let go, Zero. Just…let me help you. Let me be there for you."

_You can't replace him. You can't __**fix**__ him,_ he seemed to growl.

"I'm not _trying_ to do that, Zero," Axl snapped, looking down for a moment to get himself under control. "I'm just saying…that you're not alone."

**Sing the anthem of the angels**

**And say the last goodbye**

_Without him, what's left for me?_

"I can't tell you that, Zero. I don't know." Axl looked down at the lifeless body in Zero's arms, and fresh tears flowed.

_There's nothing left, Axl._

"X would smack the shit out of you if he heard you say that."

Zero looked up at the gunner, anger blazing in his eyes.

"Don't even start with that, Zero!" Axl snapped. "He _sacrificed_ himself for _our_ peace!"

**I keep holding onto you**

**But I can't bring you back to life**

Zero clung to the body in his arms, his face buried against X's quiet chest.

Axl leaned down, gently closing the hollow eyes, before taking Zero into his arms, working carefully around the corpse and embracing his friend tightly.

Slowly, carefully, Zero handed X's body over to the gunner, and as he struggled to keep his feet beneath him, he looked up, a recent memory striking him at the sight before him.

It had seemed like only a short time ago their rookie gunner had been disabled by Lumine, and Zero's breath caught as his memory interposed over his vision, blurring between it being Axl in X's arms and X in Axl's.

**Sing the anthem of the angels**

**And say the last goodbye**

As they broke into the painful glare of sunlight, Zero and Axl registered the looks of shock on the medical personnel that were awaiting them, and the pain manifested a million times over as the cursory scans of X's body showed that there was nothing they could salvage of the legendary Hunter.

Axl boosted carefully into the transport ship, setting X's unmoving form down on the pristine white sheets of the stretcher, and he reached down with his free hand to help Zero into the ship beside him.

Working open Axl's clenched hand, Zero pulled his vocal processor free of the Hunter's grasp, reaching over and curling X's dead fingers around it before setting his hands, one laying on top of the other, upon the Hunter's chest.

Axl looked up at Zero as the red-armored Reploid stood by X's side, still fighting tears as he magnetically locked himself to the metal frame of the ship. "Zero?"

A beep sounded in Axl's ear, and he opened the message window, tears streaming down his face once more.

**Sing the anthem of the angels**

**And say the last goodbye**

_**- I lost my voice the day X lost his life. I can operate without it, so I'm not going to worry about replacing the processor. It will go with him, since it's probably the closest I can get to sending him to his grave with my heart…because he's taken that with him as well. I know…I know he wouldn't want me to say as much, but…I should have been there. I should have been at his side, like we've been all this time, and helped him take down Sigma. -**_

**Sing the anthem of the angels…**


End file.
